Wales - Connected Nations 2017 - Ofcom · Fixed broadband services in Wales 5 4. Case Study:...
Transcript of Wales - Connected Nations 2017 - Ofcom · Fixed broadband services in Wales 5 4. Case Study:...
CONNECTED NATIONS2017
Published 15 December 2017
Wales
About this document
This is Ofcom’s annual, in-depth look at the coverage of broadband and mobile networks of the UK
and its Nations.
As communications play an increasingly critical role in our lives, the supporting infrastructure must
keep pace with the needs of people and businesses.
Part of Ofcom’s role is to help ensure that people across the UK can access a decent internet service,
and make phone calls where and when they need to.
This annual report tracks communications providers’ progress in increasing the availability of good
communications, and how the UK’s networks are responding to changing needs of people and
businesses.
This Wales report tracks the communications providers’ progress in growing the availability of good
communications in Wales, and how the changes that are underway ensure that the networks
respond to changing consumer needs.
Contents
Section
1. Connected Nations - A view of Wales 1
2. Background to the report 4
3. Fixed broadband services in Wales 5
4. Case Study: Tregroes – Better Waffles than broadband 20
5. Mobile voice and data services in Wales 24
Annex
A1. Methodology 38
A2. Coverage Comparison Table 40
A3. Glossary 41
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
1
1. Connected Nations - A view of Wales
Introduction
1.1 Access to high quality fixed-line and mobile communications services is now widely
regarded as being essential for consumers and businesses wherever they are. This report
details how improvements in availability continue to be made, but also highlights the
magnitude of the task ahead if the ambition of near-ubiquitous availability is to be
achieved.
1.2 Significant challenges remain in extending coverage of faster fixed-line broadband and 4G
mobile services in harder-to-reach areas. Continued investment by communications
providers, Government and local communities has brought change to those areas that
traditionally have not been able to benefit from good communications services; they are
now starting to see increased availability, although there is still a need for significant
progress.
1.3 Superfast broadband1 is now available in 89% of premises in Wales. Availability in rural
Wales has increased by 10 percentage points (pp) to 66%. The significantly lower
availability in rural areas is as a result of it being much more expensive per property to roll
out this infrastructure, due to the generally dispersed nature of rural dwellings.
1.4 As all four mobile network operators prepare to meet the obligations of their 4G licenses
and the terms agreed with the UK Government for the increased geographic availability of
voice services, there is an increase in the availability of both data and voice services and
further increases are expected.
Key findings
1.5 This latest Connected Nations report for Wales shows that:
a) superfast broadband (SFBB) coverage has increased by 4pp to 89% of premises in
Wales;
b) rural Wales (along with rural Scotland) saw the largest improvement in Superfast
Broadband coverage compared to last year, seeing an increase of 10pp to 66%;
c) the percentage of premises that are unable to get decent broadband2, a connection
which provides a download speed at least 10Mbit/s and an upload speed at least
1Mbit/s, has fallen to 5%;
d) indoor 4G premises coverage by all mobile operators has increased by 21pp to 34%,
while indoor all-operator coverage of data services has increased by 16pp to 73%; and
1 Defined as having a download speed of at least 30Mbit/s. 2 We consider that this is the minimum level of broadband performance required for internet access to services such as web browsing, email and certain video services.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
2
e) geographic all-operator voice and text coverage (including voice over LTE, or VoLTE) is
now 62%, while geographic all-operator data coverage has increased by 25pp to 52%.
1.6 Wales has the second highest proportion of rural premises of the constituent nations of
the UK. This brings increased challenges regarding availability of the newer generation of
network technologies such as 4G and superfast broadband. To ensure that availability
continues to increase, and that consumers who need faster services can get them, many
different initiatives have been put in place: a mixture of government-led and privately-
funded programmes, and industry investment.
1.7 The Welsh Government’s Superfast Cymru project, in partnership with BT, is nearing
completion and following consultation with industry the Government is considering how to
provide a service to those properties not currently served. It also funds Access Broadband
Cymru, which provides financial assistance to those unable to receive a fixed-line solution
to subsidise the cost of wireless or satellite alternatives. The Ultrafast Connectivity
Voucher Scheme also provides financial assistance for businesses requiring high speed
connections.
1.8 In July, DCMS (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) consulted on plans for the
universal service obligation (USO) which would have a minimum download speed of at
least 10Mbit/s with additional quality parameters of a minimum of 1Mbit/s upload speed,
minimum standard of latency and contention and a data cap of at least 100 gigabytes (GB)
per month.
Improving the information available to consumers and other stakeholders
1.9 As in previous years, we are making data available to download via our website. We
recognise the value in making this data available to third parties for their own analysis and
we continue to work as part of our broader open data initiative to explore ways in which to
further improve this.
National Assembly for Wales Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee Report on
Digital Infrastructure in Wales
In September, the National Assembly for Wales’ Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee
published its report following its inquiry into Digital Infrastructure in Wales. The report makes
several recommendations to progress improvement in digital infrastructure across Wales.
They include a call on the Welsh Government to conduct an assessment of future needs to inform
future projects aimed at connecting the final 4% of premises; to reform the planning regime to
support investment in digital connectivity, in particular to allow the installation of masts that cover a
wider geographical range; to reform the planning regime to support investment in digital
connectivity, in particular to allow the installation of masts that cover a wider geographical range;
and to consider whether offering non-domestic rates relief for new masts in non-commercial areas.
The report states that “filling in the gaps so that everyone can receive a good service is the minimum
requirement. More can be done to help people take up those services once available, and to take
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
3
potentially controversial steps to ensure that the connectivity many of us take for granted is
available to all.”
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
4
2. Background to the report 2.1 Under the Communications Act 2003 ('the Act') Ofcom is required to submit a report to the
Secretary of State every three years, describing the state of the electronic communications
networks and services in the UK.3
2.2 We published the first report in 2011 and recognised, at that time, that some aspects of
the communications infrastructure were developing rapidly and/or were of particular
interest to Government and industry stakeholders. We therefore committed to providing
updates on an annual basis, focusing on the areas of greatest change, such as coverage and
capacity of fixed and mobile networks.
2.3 We present a detailed description of our data sources and methodologies in Annex 1 and in
our main Connected Nations UK report.4
Improving the information available to stakeholders
2.4 Alongside this report, we are updating the tools launched last year to help consumers and
other stakeholders find out more about fixed and mobile services in the UK:
a) App for mobile phones and tablet PCs, which enables consumers to find out more
about the fixed broadband and mobile services that are available at their address and
test the speed of their fixed and mobile connections. A web-based tool is also available
for use on desktop and laptop computers.
b) Online visualisation tool, which presents the key highlights from this year’s report in
an intuitive and graphical way. The tool allows the user to view some of the data and
narrative from the reports in a more interactive format.
2.5 We are publishing a short summary aimed at consumers to highlight the key themes and
messages that have emerged in this year’s Connected Nations report. Alongside this we
are also publishing reports focusing on developments in each of the nations.
2.6 We welcome comments from consumers and stakeholders on the report. Please contact us
3 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/24/section/1 ss. 134A and 134B of the Act. The Digital Economy Act 2017 added a new s.134AA on additional reports. Additional reports may be published in such manner as Ofcom consider appropriate (s.134AA(2) of the Act). 4 https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-2017/main-report
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
5
3. Fixed broadband services in Wales
Fixed broadband scorecard for 20175
Fixed broadband networks Wales UK
Coverage of broadband faster than:
>=2Mbit/s 99% 99%
>=5Mbit/s 97% 98%
>=10Mbit/s 95% 97%
Superfast broadband coverage (% of premises with >=30Mbit/s) 89% 91%
Superfast broadband coverage in rural areas (% of premises) 66% 66%
Superfast lines delivering superfast speeds (% of premises –
indicative of superfast take-up) 36% 43%
Average broadband speed (download) 35Mbit/s 44Mbit/s
Average broadband speed (upload) 5Mbit/s 6Mbit/s
Average broadband download speeds by settlement type:
Urban 39Mbit/s 47Mbit/s
Rural 20Mbit/s 25Mbit/s
Data use (monthly average) 190GB 190GB
5 Data in this section regarding coverage was collected from operators with a reference date in May 2017. Data relating to the performance of the line, such as data use and the speed of the active broadband service, relates to June 2017.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
6
Key findings
3.1 The most important points for fixed broadband in Wales are:
a) superfast broadband availability in Wales has increased by 4pp, to 89%.
b) availability specifically for SMEs6 increased 9pp, to 81%.
c) the percentage of premises that are unable to get decent broadband7, a connection
which provides a download speed at least 10Mbit/s and an upload speed at least
1Mbit/s, has fallen to 5%;
d) average monthly data use in Wales increased by over 50% from 2016, to 190GB per
line, likely because of the continued move of consumers onto faster broadband
packages.
6 Small and medium-sized enterprises 7 We consider that this is the minimum level of broadband performance required for internet access to services such as web browsing, email and certain video services.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
7
Fixed broadband coverage
Coverage of superfast broadband has increased to 89% of premises in Wales
3.2 Superfast broadband coverage (i.e. defined by Ofcom as services with a download speed of
at least 30Mbit/s) continues to increase and is now available to 89% of premises in Wales
(91% UK premises), compared to 85% in 2016; and an increase of 10pp from 2015. In 2014,
superfast broadband availability in Wales was 55%.
3.3 Wales and Scotland have seen the biggest increase in coverage. This has been driven by
improvements to rural coverage, where Wales and Scotland have seen an increase of 10pp,
as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 1: Superfast coverage continues to improve
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
Figure 2: Superfast broadband coverage is higher in urban areas, but there have been greater
improvements in rural areas
Urban coverage Rural coverage
UK 95% (+2pp) 66% (+7pp)
England 95% (+1pp) 69% (+6pp)
Northern Ireland 97% (+1pp) 57% (+5pp)
Scotland 94% (+4pp) 56% (+10pp)
Wales 96% (+3pp) 66% (+10pp)
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
83% 84%77% 73% 79%89% 90% 83% 83% 85%91% 92% 85% 87% 89%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
UK England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
Pre
mis
es
cove
red
by
serv
ices
, %
2015 2016 2017
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
8
What is superfast broadband and how is it delivered to homes and small
businesses?
We define superfast broadband as supporting download speeds of at least 30Mbit/s. To deliver
these speeds, service providers typically need to install fibre optic cabling, which supports higher
speeds than the copper cables used in traditional networks. The UK Government uses a different
definition of superfast. It defines superfast as supporting download speeds of at least 24Mbit/s.
The most commonly used technologies supporting SFBB are Fibre to the Cabinet, Fibre to the
Premises or Cable. Other technologies, such as Fixed Wireless Access, can also be used to provide
superfast speeds but its use in the UK is more limited.
Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC)
This is the technology that is used to support most superfast lines, where the copper cable
between the local exchange and the street cabinet is replaced with optical fibre, but the final
connection to the consumer’s home or business is delivered over a copper line. The replacement
of copper with fibre in the connection enables higher speeds for the consumer.
Exchange Cabinet DP
Optical Fibre Copper line Premises
Fibre to the Premises
This extends the fibre network to the customer premises and is capable of delivering very high
speeds, well in excess of 300Mbit/s. We define this type of connection a “full fibre” connection.
We define ultrafast broadband as broadband connections that support download speeds of at
least 300Mbit/s.
Exchange Cabinet DP
Optical Fibre Premises
Cable
In a traditional cable network, the connection between the cabinet and the customer’s home
consists of a Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial (HFC) cable. Broadband services are delivered along the fibre
cable to a cabinet and are then carried to the home via a co-axial copper connection which can
support very high speeds, and therefore can provide ultrafast services. However, the bandwidth is
shared between customers that are connected to the same headend (the cable equivalent of an
exchange).
Cabinet Premises
Optical Fibre HFC line
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
9
Fixed Wireless
In a Fixed Wireless network, the connection between the consumer’s home or office and the
provider’s network is a wireless connection. Depending on the number of users served by the
wireless connection, it is capable of delivering superfast speeds.
Network Wireless/Mobile
Nodes transmitter
Fibre or wireless
backhaul Premises
3.4 Improvement in Wales can be attributed to the rollout of the Superfast Cymru programme.
This is the primary intervention programme in Wales and is funded by the Welsh
Government, the BDUK initiative of the UK Government, and the European Union. In
parallel, voucher schemes offer homes and businesses a route to pursue alternative
options to address their broadband needs.
3.5 To date, the Superfast Cymru project has provided access to fast fibre broadband to over
654,694 premises in Wales.8 These premises would not have otherwise been covered by
commercially-driven roll-outs.
Openreach on Superfast Cymru
“Superfast Cymru must’ve been one of the largest, fastest and most intense nationwide
engineering projects ever undertaken. Our first fibre broadband street cabinet went live
in Bangor, North Wales in February 2013, and since then our engineers have made
superfast broadband speeds (over 24Mbit/s) available to more than 650,000 homes and
businesses right across Wales. We’ve built 3,600 new broadband structure and cabinets,
we’ve tackled blizzards, floods, newts, medieval drains and even roundabouts covering
the path of our new network, but everywhere we’ve stepped, there’s been a vibrant and
grateful community there – thanking us for the life-changing connectivity that we bring.
There’s a bit left to do before the end of 2017, so we are racing to the finish line. We’re
also calling out to anyone that won’t be covered by the programme to come and speak to
us about how our Community Fibre Partnerships can help, because at the end of the day
we’ll never say no to people that want faster broadband.”
3.6 Under its Superfast Cymru grant agreement with the Welsh Government, BT has
committed to providing access to superfast broadband, delivering 30Mbit/s download
speeds, to around 690,000 premises ahead of project closure on 31 December 2017. The
agreement also includes provision for BT to exceed this target where possible by
recognising additional premises provided with access to superfast broadband between
24Mbit/s and 30 Mbit/s.
8 Source: Welsh Government. This figure has been tested and verified by the Welsh Government.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
10
3.7 BT is delivering superfast fibre broadband within the project intervention area using two
technologies: FTTC and FTTP. The final phase of the Superfast Cymru programme is
witnessing a large-scale deployment of FTTP, bringing fibre connections directly from the
telephone exchange to some very rural parts of the country. FTTP customers can currently
get ultrafast broadband speeds of up to 330Mbit/s and could access even faster gigabit
speeds in future. FTTP coverage to residential premises is amongst the highest in Wales
(3%) compared to the other nations in the UK; rural coverage is especially high, with 8% of
premises having access.
3.8 The Welsh Government launched an open market review in 2017 to establish exactly
where superfast broadband is available, property by property. This work will inform next
steps for the Welsh Government as it prepares to invest a further £80m extending
broadband availability to those premises that fall beyond commercial and public funded
deployments to date. The open market review undertaken earlier this year provisionally
identified 98,000 such premises.
3.9 This further investment in extending broadband reach is expected to use additional private
sector match-funding to maximise the opportunity to extend broadband coverage to the
hardest-to-reach premises across Wales by the end of the current government.
Hard-to-reach areas in Wales
There are premises in Wales which are remote and hence have very long copper lines.
This means that it can be more complex to provide them with upgraded broadband
services. The Welsh Government is working to develop a successor scheme to Superfast
Cymru to extend the availability of superfast broadband to those premises that won’t be
provided with access to superfast broadband under either Superfast Cymru or the
commercially driven roll-outs of telecommunications companies in the next three years.
The intervention area for the successor scheme will be scattered across Wales and
reaching those remaining premises in Wales will be both difficult and costly. It seems
unlikely that a single-technology solution will be effective.
The National Assembly for Wales’ Economy Infrastructure and Skills Committee stated in
its report published recently that “solutions will need to reflect the needs of consumers in
the future and that digital infrastructure in Wales will need to be adaptive to emerging
consumer and business demands.” The committee urged the Welsh Government to
conduct an assessment of future needs to ensure that investment being made now is
future-proof.
3.10 For those who cannot yet get fibre or a fast-traditional broadband connection, Access
Broadband Cymru funds (or part-funds) the installation costs of new broadband
connections for homes and businesses in Wales, delivering a step-change in download
speeds. There are two levels of funding, depending on the speed required; £400 for
download speeds between 10Mbit/s and 20Mbit/s, and £800 for download speeds of
30Mbit/s and above. The scheme is technology-neutral, using a range of technologies
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
11
including satellite and wireless to deliver superfast speeds and/or speeds at least double
current download speeds.
3.11 The Welsh Government’s project to enable superfast services at business parks and
industrial estates across North and South Wales is now complete. Airband has completed
its delivery of fixed wireless infrastructure enabling superfast services to over 2,000
business and industrial premises in North and South Wales where fibre was not available
or broadband speeds were poor.
3.12 The public sector has access to its own managed network service, PSBA, which connects
nearly all areas of the public service in Wales to a secure network reserved for public
service use only, and also provides reliable and protected access to the internet.
3.13 PSBA supports a partnership of public services organisations across Wales by providing a
mechanism to aggregate demand for, and collaborative purchasing of, wide area
networking services. The partnership lays the foundations for much closer public service
integration and achieves scale benefits which each partner could not achieve alone. The
network connects over 100 organisations across 4,000 sites.
3.14 Public services currently using PSBA include local authorities, police forces, fire and rescue
organisations, higher and further education colleges and universities, GP surgeries and
hospitals, Natural Resources Wales, Traffic Wales, the Welsh Government and multiple
smaller publicly funded organisations. The PSBA supplier, BT, is currently making important
changes to the core network to enable a host of new technologies that will improve the
range of services offered, improve security of the network and significantly uplift
bandwidth availability.
Figure 3 : The top five Local Authority areas in Wales with the greatest improvement in Superfast
broadband coverage
Local Authority Improvement in SFBB coverage (pp) SFBB coverage in 2017
Newport 12 96
Powys 10 70
Gwynedd 8 82
Ceredigion 8 66
Isle of Anglesey 7 81
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
3.15 The area that has seen greatest improvement in Wales is Newport, where Superfast
Broadband coverage has improved by 12pp. In many of these areas, improvements have
been driven by increased coverage for rural areas, especially where SFBB can be provided
with FTTC.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
12
Fixed networks in urban and rural areas
Figure 4: Download speeds, upload speeds and data use in Wales, by rurality
Average download sync speeds (Mbit/s)
Average upload speeds (Mbit/s)
Average monthly data usage (GB)
Wales 35 5 190
Wales urban 39 5 208
Wales rural 20 4 128
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
Full fibre coverage is amongst the highest in Wales
3.16 Full fibre coverage to residential premises is amongst the highest in Wales (3%) compared
to the other nations in the UK. Rural coverage is especially high, with 9% of premises
having access to this technology. This is as a result of the Superfast Cymru programme roll
out where BT has deployed 37,915 connections, as tested and verified by the Welsh
Government.
Figure 5 : Coverage of 1 Gbit/s and FTTP networks
1 Gbit/s FTTP coverage9
UK Total 2% 3% Urban 2% 3%
Rural 4% 5%
Wales Total 3% 3%
Urban 1% 1%
Rural 8% 9%
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
3.17 Wales, like other parts of the UK has seen a significant increase in the availability of
ultrafast broadband services (defined as download speeds of 300Mbit/s or above),
following Virgin Media’s announcement earlier this year to increase their fastest residential
broadband service from 200Mbit/s to 300Mbit/s. Coverage in Wales has increased by 9
percentage points, up to 10% of premises.
9 This is slightly higher than the percentage of premises that have access to services at 1Gbit/s or higher, as highest speed data was not provided for some lines.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
13
Figure 6 : Coverage of broadband services greater than 100Mbit/s
Coverage of premises, %
Download speed of at least 100Mbit/s
Download speed of at least 300Mbit/s
Download speed of at least 1Gbit/s
UK 47% (↑1pp) 36% (↑34pp) 2% (↑1pp)
England 50% (↑1pp) 39% (↑37pp) 3% (↑2pp)
Northern Ireland 29% (↑2pp) 25% (↑25pp) 0% (no change)
Scotland 38% (↑2pp) 30% (↑30pp) 1% (↑1pp)
Wales 24% (↑2pp) 10% (↑9pp) 3% (↑3pp)
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
3.18 Virgin Media has said that it will focus its expansion in areas closest to its existing network
based on consumer and business demand. Wrexham has become the first town in North
Wales to be upgraded as part of the Project Lightning network expansion. However, in
rural Wales, the majority of premises rely on the Openreach copper network and are not
covered by Virgin Media’s cable network.
Superfast coverage for SMEs still lags the wider population
3.19 In 2016 there were 248,400 small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs, including micro
businesses) in Wales – 62.1% of all businesses.10
3.20 The Ultrafast Connectivity Voucher scheme is available to businesses across Wales to help
meet the initial capital costs incurred in installing ultrafast broadband services. For the
purposes of the scheme, ultrafast is defined as greater than 100Mbit/s downstream, and
greater than 30Mbit/s upstream. The maximum grant available is £10,000. The first £3,000
of eligible cost is 100% funded by Welsh Government, between £3,000 and £17,000 is 50%
funded, and above £17,000 no additional funding is provided.
3.21 SFBB coverage for SMEs11 is lower than premises coverage, at 81% in Wales, with
businesses in urban areas having significantly higher coverage than businesses in rural
areas. However, some SMEs may have access to other forms of connectivity that has not
been included in our analysis, such as leased lines. Some other SMEs, particularly smaller
businesses, may choose to buy a residential service, however residential broadband
services may not always be available in areas that have mainly businesses, e.g. business
10 http://gov.wales/docs/statistics/2016/161129-size-analysis-welsh-business-2016-en.pdf 11 Defined as businesses with fewer than 250 employees. In this report we use the terms “SME” and “small business” interchangeably. Our analysis considers the availability of SFBB delivered to xx SMEs, with at least one employee (i.e. it does not include sole traders).
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
14
parks. Larger businesses may buy bespoke connections, which are also not included in our
analysis.
Figure 7 : SFBB coverage for SMEs has increased to 81% in Wales
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
3.22 Overall, around 11% of SMEs in Wales do not have access to a decent broadband service.
However, as our data does not include some bespoke business connectivity services, some
of these businesses may have access to faster broadband services from alternative
providers.
Access to broadband for small businesses in Wales
3.23 Figure 8 shows that availability of superfast broadband to SMEs in Wales has increased in
the past year, from 72% of SMEs in 2016 to 81% this year.
Figure 8: Analysis of SFBB coverage for SMEs in Wales
2015 2016 2017
Total superfast coverage, premises 79% 85% 89%
Superfast coverage for SMEs with 1 or more employees, premises 66% 72% 81%
Micro (excluding sole traders) 66% 72% 81%
Small 66% 73% 81%
Medium 62% 68% 77%
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
Broadband speeds for some consumers remain low
3.24 Although there has been an increase in the coverage of SFBB services, there is still a
minority of premises who are unable to access decent broadband speeds. In July, DCMS
consulted on plans for the Broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) which would have
a minimum download speed of at least 10Mbit/s with additional quality parameters of a
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
15
minimum of 1Mbit/s upload speed, minimum standard of latency and contention and a
data cap of at least 100GB per month.12
3.25 We estimate that around 74,000 premises in Wales (5%) do not have access to decent
broadband services, delivering these speeds. By comparison, for the UK overall, we
estimate 1.1m premises (4%) do not have access to decent broadband.
3.26 We have refined our approach to estimate the number of premises that do not have access
to a decent broadband service. In previous reports, we used modelled coverage data to
estimate the highest speed for every premise in the UK, even where consumers have not
taken up broadband or the fastest services. However, we have recently learned that the
model used by Openreach to calculate the coverage of standard broadband13 does not fully
reflect some recent technology upgrades and underestimates upload speeds. By
comparing the predictive model results against data on the speeds delivered on actual
broadband connections, we identified several hundred thousand more lines that reported
speeds which met both the 10 Mbit/s downstream target and the 1 Mbit/s upstream
target.
3.27 Over 95% of the premises that do not have decent broadband do not have access to
download speeds of at least 10Mbit/s. Consumers in rural areas continue to be more likely
to be affected by this, with 19% of premises unable to get download speeds of at least
10Mbit/s compared to only 1% of premises in urban areas.
Figure 9: The proportion of premises that do not have access to broadband with 10Mbit/s download speed has decreased
Premises unable to receive download speed at least 10Mbit/s
Total Urban Rural
UK 3% (↓2pp) 1% (↓1pp) 17% (↓7pp)
England 3% (↓1pp) 1% (no change) 15% (↓6pp)
Northern Ireland 7% (↓1pp) 1% (no change) 23% (↓4pp)
Scotland 5% (↓2pp) 1% (↓1pp) 26% (↓11pp)
Wales 5% (↓4pp) 1% (↓2pp) 19% (↓11pp)
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
3.28 Figure 10 shows that the rural population in Wales has a higher percentage of premises
unable to receive a downloads speed of at least 2Mbit/s or 5Mbit/s than the percentage
for the UK as a whole.
12 https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/broadband-universal-service-obligation-consultation-on-design Alongside this consultation, they have published details of an offer made by BT to provide a similar broadband service voluntarily. The BT proposal would provide fixed broadband with a minimum speed of 10Mbit/s to 99% of the country by 2022. https://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/updates/downloads/Deliveringuniversalbroadbandcoverage.pdf Government are currently considering this offer. 13 Using ADSL technology
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
16
Figure 10: The proportion of premises that do not have access to broadband with 2Mbit/s or
5Mbit/s download speed has also decreased
Premises unable to receive download speed at least
2Mbit/s 5Mbit/s
UK Total 1% (no change) 2% (no change)
Urban 0% (no change) 0% (no change)
Rural 4% (↓1%) 10% (↓3%)
Wales Total 1% (↓1%) 3% (↓1pp)
Urban 0% (no change) 0% (↓1pp)
Rural 5% (↓2%) 11% (↓6pp)
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
3.29 Premises in rural areas are more likely to have lower broadband speeds, because they are
more reliant on broadband services delivered over the copper telephone lines. Alternative
network providers are less likely to choose to deploy infrastructure in these areas, due to
higher costs for infrastructure roll out due to the distances involved in reaching these areas
and the number of potential customers available.
Why are broadband speeds lower in rural areas?
The distance between the premises and the nearest fibre enabled cabinet or exchange
has an impact on the quality of service received, and in particular the speed of a
consumer’s connection. Consumers who live in less densely populated parts of the UK are
more likely to live further from the nearest fibre enabled cabinet or exchange, and
therefore achieve lower broadband speeds.
This is due to the attenuation of the signal as it travels along the copper line, and the
broadband signal becomes weaker, so speeds decay as the distance between the
premises and the exchange increases. Speeds typically start to decrease between 1 and
2km from the exchange and are reduced considerably at distances more than 3.5km.
FTTC-based broadband uses optical fibre to the cabinet and therefore the length of
copper wire is reduced. However, as some copper wire remains between the cabinet and
the premises, there can be some decay in speeds for customers located a long way from a
cabinet. Customers further than 700m from a cabinet are too far to receive superfast
speeds.14
14 http://www.increasebroadbandspeed.co.uk/2013/chart-bt-fttc-vdsl2-speed-against-distance
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
17
Data at local authority level in Wales
3.30 Looking at availability of broadband at the more granular local authority level shows the
disparity across Wales. Figure 11 shows the percentage of premises unable to get 2, 5 and
10Mbit/s by local authority.
3.31 Ceredigion and Powys had the worst availability of broadband capable of 10Mbit/s or
more, with 19% of premises in Ceredigion and 18% in Powys unable to access these
services. In 6 other local authorities, almost 10% of premises were also unable to access
services capable of 10Mbit/s or more.
Figure 11: The percentage of premises unable to get 2, 5 and 10Mbit/s by local authority area15
Local Authority % of premises unable to get 2Mbit/s
Premises unable to get 2Mbit/s
% of premise unable to get 5Mbit/s
Premises unable to get 5Mbit/s
% of premises unable to get 10Mbit/s
Premises unable to get 10Mbit/s
Ceredigion 6% 2,200 12% 4,200 19% 6,900
Powys 5% 3,300 10% 6,700 18% 11,600
Gwynedd 3% 1,600 5% 3,400 10% 6,400
Carmarthenshire 3% 2,300 7% 5,800 10% 9,200
Denbighshire 2% 700 4% 2,000 9% 4,200
Pembrokeshire 3% 1,900 6% 3,800 9% 5,900
Isle of Anglesey 2% 600 6% 2,100 10% 3,500
Monmouthshire 3% 1,100 6% 2,400 9% 3,800
Conwy 1% 700 3% 1,700 5% 3,000
Flintshire 1% 500 3% 1,900 5% 3,600
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
Technological innovation
TV White Space Pilot
A pilot scheme delivering broadband connectivity using TV white space (TVWS)
broadband technology to the remote community of Llanarth, Monmouthshire was
launched during 2017. The area suffers from poor broadband connectivity and as part of
the pilot, nine households within Llanarth’s five main areas will test the technology for six
months.
15 Premises total rounded to nearest 100
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
18
Multi terabit fibre spine for Cardiff
The Cardiff Capital Region is bidding to the UK Government’s £200m Local Full Fibre
Networks investment fund to develop what it described as “one of the world’s most
advanced digital infrastructures” aimed at attracting global technology firms and creating
thousands of new hi-tech jobs. The plan would utilise the existing Hibernia Express
transatlantic submarine cable – which links the trading centres of New York and London –
by building an effective spur off it in the Bristol Channel to make landfall at Barry in the
Vale of Glamorgan. Through the creation of an international internet gateway, with a
multi-terabit fibre spine, from a landing station in Barry it would spread out across the
city region through 300 kilometres of ducting, at a cost of around £37m.
Like in Ireland and Denmark the network would be publicly-owned and open for
commercial providers to offer services. The plan is for full fibre to reach all major
hospitals, council offices and higher and further education institutions across the region,
as well as its major business parks, enterprise zones and sporting stadia.
Chicken shed goes online
www.thedolectures.com “The idea is a simple one. That people who Do things, can
inspire the rest of us to go and Do things too. So each year, we invite a set of people to
come and tell us what they Do.” Earlier this year, live from a Chicken Shed in Cardigan,
West Wales, DoLectures provided inspirational talks streamed live thanks to a mix of
wireless and fibre to the cabinet technology.
Performance of fixed broadband services
Data consumption in Wales increases significantly
Figure 12: Average monthly total data usage, by nation
2017 2016
UK 190 131
England 190 133
Northern Ireland 187 125
Scotland 195 120
Wales 190 122
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
3.32 Data consumption in Wales has risen from an average of 122GB per subscriber per month to
over 190GB per subscriber per month. This is a significant increase and is in line with the UK
average of 190GB per subscriber per month. As in previous years, there is evidence that
households with higher speed connections are consuming significantly more data, especially
those with superfast speeds.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
19
Figure 13: Average monthly data usage upload and download speeds by rurality
Wales
Urban Avg download speeds 39 (Mbit/s)
Avg monthly data usage 208 (GB)
Rural Avg download speeds 20 (Mbit/s)
Avg monthly data usage 128 (GB)
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
3.33 Unsurprisingly, there is a clear link between faster download speeds and higher data
consumption. Figure 13 above highlights the stark contrast between urban and rural
premises in Wales.
3.34 Consumers who take up superfast broadband will find that faster download and upload
speeds enables them to use a much wider range of multimedia applications than they
could with slower connections. For example, You Tube, iPlayer and Netflix. These services
offer video for download or streaming in standard, high and, increasingly, ultra-high
definition formats; video calling services, such as Skype or FaceTime; and Cloud-based
services for back-up of data or sharing content with friends or colleagues.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
20
4. Case Study: Tregroes – Better Waffles than broadband 4.1 The village of Tregroes in the Teifi valley in Ceredigion is best known for its artisan waffles,
but, in communication terms, is seen by many of its residents as a not-spot. For the
purpose of this case study the locality of Tregroes (shown as the grey area in the map
below) is defined by the following postcodes SA44 4NA, SA44 4NB, SA44 4NE, SA44 4NN,
SA44 4LY and SA44 4NP.
Figure 14: Fixed broadband coverage
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
4.2 Almost three quarters of premises (71%) have access to broadband speeds of less than
2Mbit/s and only a little more than one in ten (12%) have access to broadband speeds of
10Mbit/s.
Figure 15: Comparing rural Wales average coverage to rural Tregroes
Percentage of
premises receive
download speeds
>=2Mbit/s
Percentage of
premises receive
download speeds
>=5Mbit/s
Percentage of
premises receive
download speeds
>=10Mbit/s
Rural Wales 95% 89% 81%
Tregroes 71% 15% 12%
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
21
4.3 A similar pattern is observed for mobile coverage where 44% of premises in the village are
unable to use mobile voice services from any operator and just over a quarter of premises
(26%) have no access to mobile data services. Figure 17 shows that the average percentage
of premises in rural Wales currently considered a not spot for indoor voice and data
coverage is 2%.
Figure 16: Outdoor mobile voice coverage
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
4.4 Figure 16 above indicates outdoor voice network availability in Tregroes and shows areas
which are complete not spots (in white), partial coverage (1 to 3 operators) and full
coverage (coverage from all operators). Coverage along the main roads in and out of
Tregroes is variable with several patches of not spots.
Figure 17: Average percentage of premises in rural Wales currently considered a not-spot for
indoor voice and data coverage is 2%
Complete not spots
Indoor voice
(premises)
Indoor data
(premises)
Voice
(geographic)
Data
(geographic)
Wales 2% 2% 9% 9%
Tregroes 44% 26% 21% 17%
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
4.5 Earlier this year members of the Ofcom Wales team visited Tregroes at the request of local
Councillor Peter Davies to see at first hand the quality of communication service available
to many local businesses.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
22
Business 1: ROSS PRIDAY, TREGROES.
4.6 After moving to the property, Ross Priday was informed that because he and his family
lived over half a mile from the nearest telegraph pole, they would have to pay the full costs
for connecting a landline to the property to enable broadband. This was quoted at circa
£30,000. After numerous site visits to look at alternative routing, BT offered a ‘supply only’
solution at a prohibitively high cost and would only have provided a broadband service at
0.5Mbit/s at best.
4.7 There is an intermittent mobile voice signal with EE at the property but no data
signal. There is a reliable 3G signal if Ross walks 400m north or south of the property. Mr
Priday currently has a satellite internet service through a London based provider. Like
mobile, the service is also unreliable and intermittent but when it is working it is sufficient
to send and receive basic emails and to access online services such as internet shopping. As
with all satellite internet services, latency is a problem, and this precludes using the
internet to its full potential.
4.8 The difficulties faced by Ross and his family by having limited telephone and data
connectivity are threefold – the negative impact on his business; limited use of internet for
children with respect to educational needs; limited use of internet for leisure/recreational
use (streaming data/online services).
4.9 In 2016 Ross started his own business as an aviation safety consultant, with contracts from
military and civil clients around the world. The lack of a reliable mobile signal, combined
with the restrictions of a satellite internet service continue to cause significant problems
for the business. In setting up the business he was unable to access HMRC webinars to
help with tax/VAT issues. He cannot use commonplace internet applications such as
Dropbox, Skype and GoTo to support client needs and cannot send and receive emails with
large attachments. Internet banking is difficult. Using web-based email services such as
Office 365 or Exchange is often impossible.
4.10 To ensure delivery to clients against contracted timescales, Ross is spending more time
away from home and also incurring a lot of additional expense to support the
business. Running a business from home, with reliance on mobile and data connectivity is
simply not possible in this part of Wales.
Business 2: RUPERT BASSETT, TREGROES
4.11 Since 1990 Rupert Bassett has worked as an information designer, primarily designing
printed documents for clients involved in sustainable development and corporate social
responsibility. He has also taught information design at a degree level.
4.12 In 2005 Rupert moved from London to Tregroes with his partner. They were looking for a
change from the London design scene and thought that it would be possible to take
advantage of the latest developments in communication technology to set up a design
studio in a beautiful rural environment.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
23
4.13 Rupert was aware that the remote location that they had chosen had no mobile phone
coverage, but hoped this would be improved over time. However, they had been given
assurances by BT that the telephone network would deliver broadband. It quickly became
clear that the upload/download speeds of less than 2Mbit/s were insufficient for their
needs despite the best efforts of Openreach engineers who regularly visited the property
and tried to make things work, including replacing telegraph poles and the copper cable
leading to the house.
4.14 In 2013 Rupert was given a Welsh Government Access Broadband Cymru grant to purchase
and install satellite broadband equipment. This proved to be relatively successful with
upload/download speeds up to 20Mbit/s, but it is expensive and badly affected by the
weather, particularly heavy cloud. This technology has greatly facilitated the operation of
the business which continues to develop its digital output, including work for local clients.
There has also been an increasing demand for connectivity from Rupert’s teaching activity,
where almost all planning, co-ordination and marking of classes is handled online.
4.15 Connectivity is becoming increasingly important for the social and educational needs of
Rupert and Julia’s 11-year-old daughter. She has just been given her first mobile phone,
and her secondary school education homework is now delivered online via the ‘Show My
Homework’ website. She regularly requires the internet to complete teaching exercises
and research homework subjects. Julie, now working as an environmental health training
co-ordinator, also requires access to a reliable broadband service when she works from
home.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
24
5. Mobile voice and data services in Wales 5.1 Mobile services are an increasingly integral part of the modern lifestyle and because of its
topography and the distribution of its population, Wales has lagged other parts of the UK
and continues to do so. However, levels of availability continue to increase as Mobile
Network Operators comply with their license obligations and the terms of their agreement
with the UK Government to increase geographic voice coverage. The Welsh Government is
also considering what steps it can take to encourage the operators to go even further.
Mobile coverage scorecard 201716
Mobile networks17 Wales UK
Indoor voice premises (coverage by all four operators) 80% 90%
Geographic voice (coverage by all four operators) 62% 70%
Indoor data premises (coverage by all four operators) 73% 85%
Geographic data (coverage by all four operators) 52% 63%
Indoor voice premises (complete not-spots) 2% 1%
Geographic voice (complete not-spots) 9% 9%
Indoor data premises (complete not-spots) 2% 1%
Geographic data (complete not-spots) 9% 12%
Outdoor voice premises (coverage by all four operators) 93% 98%
Outdoor data premises (coverage by all four operators) 88% 96%
Outdoor voice premises (complete not-spots) 0.4% 0.1%
Outdoor data premises (complete not-spots) 0.6% 0.2%
16 Data in this section relates to June 2017. 17 Coverage thresholds are: 2G indoor (-71dBm), 2G outdoor (-81dBm), 3G indoor (-90dBm), 3G outdoor (-100dBm), 4G voice services indoor (-95dBm), 4G voice services outdoor (-105dBm), 4G data services indoor (-105dBm) and 4G data services outdoor (-115dBm).
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
25
Key Findings
5.2 The most significant findings for mobile coverage in Wales are: -
a) Indoor all-operator coverage of data services has increased by 16pp to 73% with 4G
indoor premises coverage increasing by 21pp to 34%.
b) Outdoor premises voice coverage by all four operators reached 93% whilst indoor voice
coverage reached 80%.
c) Geographic coverage by all four operators also increased across all categories. Voice
coverage reached 62%, data coverage grew 25pp to 52% and 4G coverage was up 18pp
to 24%.
d) Data use per SIM card increased to 1.86GB in the year to June 2017, an increase of 48%
compared to the year before.
Mobile delivery technologies
There are currently three generations of technology used to deliver mobile services to
consumers in the UK.
• 2G was the first digital mobile technology, launched in the UK in 1992. It is used to
deliver voice, text services and low-speed data services. 2G services are delivered by
O2, Vodafone and EE.
• 3G is a later generation of digital mobile technology, launched in 2003, and provides
typical download speeds of over 5Mbit/s. 3G supports voice, text and data services,
and services are operated by O2, Vodafone, EE and Three.
• 4G is the latest generation of mobile technology, launched in 2012, and provides
typical download speeds of over 10Mbit/s, with some services able to deliver
significantly higher. These services are operated by O2, Vodafone, EE and Three.
There has been a significant roll-out of additional 4G services by all operators over the
past year. EE and Three have now upgraded their 4G networks to support voice services,
and O2 and Vodafone are currently in the process of doing so.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
26
Reporting coverage in a way that reflects consumer expectations
5.3 It is important that information on mobile coverage is reported in way that is accessible,
comparable and accurate, so that consumers can make informed decisions about the
services they take. However, accurately defining and predicting mobile coverage is not
straightforward and consumers can often feel that the information they receive does not
reflect their experience when using their phones.
5.4 This year, Ofcom has identified measures for reporting on mobile coverage for 4G services
that reflects how people actually use their phones. This is consistent with our approach for
earlier generations of mobile technologies.
5.5 We define mobile coverage in terms that reflect the likely expectations of smartphone
users:
a) Telephone calls: We require that nearly all 90-second telephone calls can be
completed without interruption;
b) Data services: We require that nearly all connections deliver a speed of at least
2Mbit/s. This is fast enough to allow users to browse the internet and watch glitch-free
mobile video.
5.6 We have used crowdsourced data from real world consumer handsets to identify the signal
levels needed to meet these targets at least 95% of the time.
Mobile coverage – voice and data services
Figure 18 : Coverage by all four operators of data, voice and 4G services across the UK and
Nations, June 2017
Indoor premises Outdoors geographic
4G Voice Data 4G Voice Data
UK Total 58% (↑18pp)
90% (↑5pp)
85% (↑6pp)
43% (↑22pp)
70% (↑7pp)
63% (↑10pp)
Urban 64% (↑19pp)
95% (↑3pp)
92% (↑4pp)
87% (↑20pp)
98% (↑1pp)
96% (↑3pp)
Rural 18% (↑12pp)
57% (↑15pp)
46% (↑15pp)
38% (↑22pp)
66% (↑7pp)
59% (↑12pp)
Wales Total 34% (↑21pp)
80% (↑10pp)
73% (↑16pp)
25% (↑18pp)
62% (↑12pp)
52% (↑25pp)
Urban 41% (↑25pp)
90% (↑9pp)
83% (↑14pp)
62% (↑35pp)
93% (↑4pp)
88% (↑11pp)
Rural 10% (↑9pp)
45% (↑15pp)
37% (↑22pp)
19% (↑16pp)
58% (↑13pp)
47% (↑26pp)
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
More information on mobile coverage for the other nations in the UK can be found in Annex 2.
Figure 18 summarises the mobile coverage available in June 2017 for the UK and Wales,
from all operators. It is split into voice, data and 4G services and shown as a total
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
27
proportion and split into urban and rural classifications. The figures within the brackets
denote the year-on-year percentage point change from June 2016 to June 2017.
The divide between urban and rural areas has narrowed for some mobile coverage metrics,
including both indoor and outdoor voice and data premises coverage, in the year to June
2017. However, for others, especially the indoor premises coverage of 4G services, it has
widened further. This is likely due to the fact that the 4G rollout is continuing to expand
coverage in urban/suburban areas, whilst starting to target rural areas. This leads to
geographic coverage increases, especially in rural areas. However, as more rural areas are
targeted, fewer premises will be covered as there is a much lower premises density.
The most significant urban-rural divide can be observed for outdoor geographic voice
coverage in Wales. 93% of urban landmass is covered, but only 58% of rural Wales. The
divide is greater in proportion for 4G coverage in Wales (62% urban and 19% in rural
areas).
Coverage of mobile voice services
5.10 Operators mainly use their 2G and 3G networks to provide voice services. EE and Three
have upgraded their 4G networks to also support voice services and an increasing number
of handsets are compatible with this new technology (known as VoLTE, or Voice over LTE).
Vodafone and O2 are continuing to work towards the launch of VoLTE services. Figure 19
shows the coverage of voice services for each operator in the UK in June 2017.
5.11 There are quite considerable variations between the coverage provided by the individual
operators in Wales.
Figure 19: Coverage of mobile services in Wales by network operator June 2017
O2 Vodafone EE Three
Indoor voice premises 92% 91% 91% 92%
Indoor data premises 87% 85% 95% 85%
Geographic voice 77% 79% 78% 80%
Geographic data 67% 68% 81% 75%
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
5.12 Figure 19 shows that mobile voice and text services from all operators are available to
around 62% of the landmass in Wales – 8pp lower than the total for the UK (70%).
However, coverage has improved by 12pp year-on-year. There has also been a 11pp
increase in indoor mobile voice coverage from all operators for premises over the same
time to 80%.
5.13 While the deployment by some operators of voice-enabled 4G services has resulted in
some improvement in voice coverage, these networks are relatively immature compared
to 2G and 3G networks, and at present their contribution to overall coverage is relatively
limited.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
28
5.14 As more operators deploy 4G networks at lower frequencies, we expect these networks
will make a more significant contribution to overall voice coverage over the next few years.
Figure 20: Coverage of mobile voice services from all operators (figure in brackets denotes year-
on-year percentage point increase)
Indoor coverage, % premises Geographic coverage, % landmass
UK 90% (↑5pp) 70% (↑7pp)
England 91% (↑4pp) 88% (↑7pp)
Northern Ireland 78% (↑5pp) 83% (↑7pp)
Scotland 87% (↑6pp) 40% (↑5pp)
Wales 80% (↑10pp) 62% (↑12pp)
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
Coverage of mobile data services
5.15 Operators mostly use their 3G and 4G networks to provide higher-speed mobile data
services to their customers. 2G networks are excluded from our assessment of data
coverage as they are only capable of supporting lower-speed data connections. Figure 21
shows the coverage of overall data services and Figure 22 shows 4G services by operator as
of June 2017.
5.16 Indoor mobile data coverage (Combined 3G and 4G) from all four operators has increased
by 16pp to 73%. Geographic coverage has improved 25pp to 52%. 3G networks in general
have comparatively high levels of coverage compared to the newer 4G networks, which are
still being rolled out across the UK.
Figure 21: Coverage of mobile data services from all operators
Indoor coverage, % premises Geographic coverage, % landmass
UK 85% (↑6pp) 63% (↑10pp)
England 87% (↑5pp) 82% (↑10pp)
Northern Ireland 75% (↑5pp) 76% (↑6pp)
Scotland 82% (↑8pp) 31% (↑11pp)
Wales 73% (↑16pp) 52% (↑25pp)
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
29
Figure 22: Coverage of 4G mobile services from all operators
Indoor coverage, % premises Geographic coverage, % landmass
UK 58% (↑18pp) 43% (↑22pp)
England 60% (↑18pp) 60% (↑28pp)
Northern Ireland 44% (↑10pp) 60% (↑30pp)
Scotland 53% (↑20pp) 17% (↑11pp)
Wales 34% (↑21pp) 25% (↑18pp)
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
5.17 Figure 22 shows 4G indoor premises coverage from all operators in Wales has increased by
21pp over the last year to 34% but remains the lowest of the UK nations.
5.18 4G coverage from all four operators only extends to 24% of the landmass of Wales but is
an increase of 18pp from 2016.
The challenges in Wales
5.19 The decision to offer mobile coverage in a particular area is essentially a commercial
judgement by the mobile network operators. Profitability will depend on the likely demand
for mobile services as well as the costs of providing these services.
5.20 The topography and the density of its population poses particular challenges in improving
mobile coverage in Wales with the most apparent challenges focused in rural areas where
securing the necessary infrastructure – backhaul connectivity, suitable location and power
supply can be both problematic and costly.
Digital Infrastructure in Wales report
In its recently published report, the National Assembly for Wales’ Economy Infrastructure
and Skills Committee (EIS) recommended that the Welsh Government should consider
making future public subsidy conditional on supporting government policy to improve
digital infrastructure and to ensure that it meets the needs of consumers in the future,
any convergence between broadband and mobile internet connectivity.
5.21 Providing comparable levels of coverage with other nations of the UK will inevitably
require the construction of more masts and in many cases the height of those masts will
have a beneficial effect on the coverage levels achieved.
5.22 As an illustration of the greater number of mobile phone masts needed in Wales to provide
coverage, Figure 23 shows the numbers of digital television transmitters required per
million of the population in each of the constituent nations of the UK.
5.23 Whilst in England 12.5 transmitters are required to serve a population of one million, in
Wales the number rises to 67.2. But even with so many more transmitters per head
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
30
equality of output in not achieved with population coverage in Wales (97.7%) one
percentage point lower than that in England (98.7%).
Figure 23: Effect of terrain on television transmitter requirements
Population
(2011)
Transmitter
sites
Transmitter
Per million
Post-DSO
Freeview
Pre-DSO
Analogue
England 53,012,456 664 12.5 98.7% 98.7%
Scotland 5,295,000 240 45.3 98.8% 97.2%
Wales 3,063,456 206 67.2 97.7% 96.7%
N. Ireland 1,810,863 46 25.4 97.6% 97.6%
UK 63,182,000 1156 18.3 98.5% 98.5%
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
5.24 Another key input is the planning regime, which, as things stand, is more restrictive than
that in England or Scotland. The Welsh Government’s recently published Mobile Action
Plan recognises that the planning system has a key part to play in maximising mobile
coverage across Wales and includes a commitment to publish a consultation on revised
planning guidelines by Spring 2018. The Government has also agreed to work with the
mobile network operators to revise and, if appropriate, consolidate the code of best
practice and Technical Advice Note (TAN19) on mobile infrastructure development.18
The greatest spread seems to be in geographic 4G coverage and indoor 4G premises
coverage. As is the case with all operators, much of the variation in mobile coverage
between different parts of Wales can be explained by differences in the likely demand for,
and cost of providing mobile services.
Welsh Government Mobile Action Plan
In October, the Welsh Government published its Mobile Action Plan stating that in Wales
there are significant populations within mountainous and very rural areas. If mobile
coverage is going to improve there will need to be an increase in the number of mobile
infrastructure sites in Wales. A balance will need to be struck between mobile
connectivity and the impact on the landscape.
1. Planning
Action: Welsh Government has commissioned research to inform changes to permitted
development rights for telecommunications equipment to improve mobile connectivity.
This research is due to be completed by Autumn 2017.
18 http://gov.wales/topics/science-and-technology/digital/infrastructure/mobile-action-plan/?lang=en
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
31
Action: Welsh Government will refresh Planning Policy Wales (PPW) to ensure that it
highlights the positive relationship between telecommunications and the economy. A
revised PPW will be published for consultation by Spring 2018.
Action: Mobile network operators will work with the Welsh Government to revise and, if
appropriate, consolidate the code of best practice and Technical Advice Note (TAN19) on
mobile network infrastructure development.
2. Public Assets
Action: Welsh Government will facilitate relationships between mobile network operators
and mobile network infrastructure providers, and estates managers and other interested
parties in Welsh public sector bodies.
Action: Welsh Government, in partnership with other public sector bodies, to undertake
an audit of the existing asset registers, including the proposed publicly available national
public asset register, and assess their suitability for use by mobile infrastructure
providers.
3. Non-domestic rates
Action: Welsh Government will assess the impact of a reduction in non-domestic rates for
new mobile infrastructure (masts, small cells etc.) on investment decisions by the mobile
operators.
Action: Where evidence suggests that a reduction in non-domestic rates would encourage
investment the Welsh Government will consider providing non-domestic rates relief on
appropriate mobile mast sites.
4. Regulation
Action: Welsh Government will work to understand the opportunities and challenges of
geographically differentiated regulation, engaging with Ofcom as appropriate.
5. Innovation and emerging technologies
Action: Welsh Government to continue to support emerging technology initiatives
throughout the country including solutions to support rural businesses.
Action: Welsh Government and mobile network operators to work together to identify
opportunities to develop and test innovate technologies in Wales.
6. Infill solutions
Action: Welsh Government will scope the extent of any public intervention and mobile
operators, through Ofcom, will share appropriate network information to inform its
development.
7. Transport
Action: Welsh Government to explore opportunities for improving connectivity on
transport networks.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
32
8. ESMCP (Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme)
Action: Welsh Government to work with the Home Office to future proof masts where
appropriate.
Action: Welsh Government to explore how mast sites could be further enhanced.
9. Major events and special projects
Action: Welsh Government will where necessary facilitate relationships between mobile
network operators and major event organisers.
Action: Welsh Government to produce a list of high attendance
Mobile Not-Spots in Wales
5.25 There remain areas in Wales with no mobile coverage from all four of the network
operators as well as complete not-spots where there is no coverage at all. In geographic
terms, 9% of Wales is not covered by a data service from any operator and 8% not covered
by a voice service by any operator.
Figure 24: Partial and complete not-spots in Wales, coverage by all operators, 2017
Indoor Voice
(premises)
Indoor Data
(premises)
Voice
(geographic)
Data
(geographic)
Partial Not-Spots
Overall 19% (↓9pp) 26% (↓14pp) 29% (↓8pp) 39% (↓18pp)
Urban 10% (↓9pp) 17% (↓14pp) 7% (↓4pp) 11% (↓11pp)
Rural 48% (↓11pp) 55% (↓13pp) 32% (↓8pp) 43% (↓19pp)
Complete Not-
Spots
Overall 2% (↓1pp) 2% (↓2pp) 8% (↓4pp) 9% (↓7pp)
Urban 0.1% (↓0.1pp) 0.1% (↓0.5pp) 0.2% (↓0.2pp) 0.3% (↓0.3pp)
Rural 7% (↓4pp) 8% (↓8pp) 10% (↓4pp) 10% (↓8pp)
Source: Ofcom analysis of operators’ data
Innovative solutions
5.26 In its ‘Digital Infrastructure in Wales’ Report, the National Assembly for Wales’ Economy,
Infrastructure and Skills Committee noted that there should be scope for investment in
more innovative bespoke solutions to address the specific problems with the mobile
network in Wales. The Committee agreed that existing public infrastructure could be used
to site masts for wider coverage and that the Welsh Government “should be more creative
in how to ensure maximum coverage with the minimum number of masts.”
5.27 There are numerous innovative technological solutions being trialed in Wales to extend
mobile coverage particularly in the most rural areas.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
33
Ger y Gors, Pontrhydfendigaid
Pontrhydfendigaid in Ceredigion used to be a complete not-spot for both mobile and
broadband until the Ger y Gors Community Mast project was set up. Supported by Welsh
Government, the project secured funding, use and access to suitable land, gained
planning permission and constructed a 25metre mast and access road. The mast is
superfast enabled, allowing end users to receive superfast speeds via wireless broadband.
The mast is also a Mobile Infrastructure Project mast, and is providing 4G coverage from
all operators to the village of Pontrhydfendigaid and its surrounding area.
The Economy Infrastructure and Skills Committee in their report on ‘Digital Infrastructure
in Wales’ agreed that Ger y Gors could be used as a model for other rural economies and
that the Welsh Government could use the lessons learned from this project to develop a
toolkit which would give rural communities more autonomy to install mobile
infrastructure to meet their specific needs. The Committee agreed that the benefits of a
community approach need to be given a larger profile and promoted to rural
communities experiencing similar problems with connectivity.
Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells
Situated at the edge of the Brecon Beacons, securing good mobile coverage in Builth
Wells is challenging, even more so with having to manage the high mobile data demands
of the 240,000 visitors which attend the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show in July each year,
all expecting to be able to use their smartphones.
Working in partnership, the show’s organisers, Welsh Government and EE activated a
new permanent 4G mobile mast on the showground. The new permanent EE mast has
improved mobile coverage and increase capacity at the showground and is a further
boost for the area which already has access to superfast broadband thanks to Superfast
Cymru.
The permanent site removes the need for an RF mobile temporary site and a
Transmission mobile temp site. The site has Golden status meaning that is any
operational issues arise, resolution will be achieved within four hours.
Small Cell Technology
Three locations in West Wales have been chosen to trial Small Cell Technology
deployments as part of a partnership between the Welsh Government, EE and local
stakeholders. The three locations involved are Llanbedr Airfield in Gwynedd, Llanddeiniol
and Tresaith in Ceredigion. The common aspect is an integrated 3G and 4G small cell in a
secure cabinet. These were installed via antenna to the side of a building. A single
cylindrical antenna housing incorporates separate 3G and 4G directional antennas,
typically with a 90-degree spread plus a GPS receiver for synchronisation.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
34
Some of the units only required mains power and used wireless links for backhaul. The
others were directly connected to fibre backhaul. Where wireline backhaul isn’t available,
the service can be relayed from a nearby 4G ‘donor’ macro cell. This is then repackaged to
provide both 3G and 4G at the local sites. Internal short range line-of-sight datalinks
between local small cells use the 5GHz unlicensed band.
Helikite ‘air mast’ technology
During a mountain biking event in Machynlleth, Mid Wales in October a helikite 'air mast'
was flown 300ft above the mountainous area to connect over 200 downhill riders and
hundreds of spectators at the event. The ‘air mast’ was used to broadcast a 360-degree
live stream from the downhill mountain biking event - the first time the balloon
technology, designed to provide coverage on demand and in hard to reach places, has
been used to provide mobile connectivity to consumers anywhere in the world. To ensure
everyone was connected no matter which mobile operator they were with, EE provided
both 4G and 4G Wi-Fi from the patent-pending ‘air mast'
Coverage on road and rail networks
5.28 Consumers spend a significant amount of time travelling on the roads or rail network in the
UK and frequently experience poor mobile coverage. This may be because the roads or
rails pass through tunnels or cuttings, where mobile signals are weak or totally blocked, or
due to poor coverage in the rural parts of the transport networks. In urban areas, problems
could be experienced where too many consumers are attempting to access the network at
the same time and through the same cell site, leading to slowed speeds or no access at all.
5.29 Being able to communicate on the move is important to consumers. However, there are
inherent challenges in providing reliable coverage across the transport network.
Mobile coverage on roads
5.30 Good mobile coverage is important for road users. For workers on the move it provides a
vital means to stay in contact with colleagues and customers; and it allows drivers or
pedestrians to call for help in an emergency.
5.31 As Figure 25 shows, of the UK’s constituent nations, coverage is worst in Scotland and
Wales, with around 50% of A and B roads being covered by voice services and around 40%
by data services from all operators.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
35
Figure 25: In car mobile coverage on many roads is poor
A and B roads, % road network Motorways, % road network
Voice Data Voice Data
UK 68% 58% 97% 91%
England 78% 67% 97% 91%
Northern Ireland 62% 54% 91% 81%
Scotland 46% 39% 96% 88%
Wales 53% 42% 99% 96%
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
Figure 26: In car mobile coverage on selected roads in Wales
Location
A&B Roads A Roads A470 A483 A40
Road
Network
Voice 53% 60% 49% 65% 73%
Data 42% 47% 29% 38% 47%
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
5.32 In addition to the general data on road coverage of voice and data services in Wales,
specific data is provided on three key routes. The A470 is the main road route between
North and South Wales connecting Llandudno and Cardiff has coverage (49%) well below
the average for A roads. The A483, another key North-South route between Wrexham and
Swansea has better than average voice coverage (65%), but significantly below average
data coverage (38%). The A40 which connects Monmouth in the South East with Fishguard
in the South West has significantly better voice coverage (73%) than the average for Welsh
A roads (60%) and data coverage (47%) that is equal to that on Welsh A roads.
Mobile coverage on trains
5.33 As explained in the box below, mobile coverage inside train carriages can be poor for a
variety of reasons. The seemingly obvious approach of simply deploying additional base
stations to cover all of the rail network may not be an effective solution in all cases, and
would definitely be a substantial capital outlay.
Why is mobile coverage on trains often so poor?
While the coverage of mobile networks continues to improve in many places, many of us
still experience the frustration of dropped calls and poor speeds when trying to use our
mobile phone on a train. Delivering reliable mobile coverage to train passengers remains
difficult in some areas.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
36
One reason is the location of the tracks. Intercity railway tracks often pass through rural
areas, where levels of coverage tend to be lower than in urban areas. However,
consumers often experience dropped calls and slow data speeds even in dense urban
areas, such as around railway stations. This is more likely caused by the mobile networks
lacking the capacity to deal with high numbers of users simultaneously. In addition, many
railway tracks are laid in deep cuttings and tunnels, which are difficult and costly to cover
with standard network base stations.
The construction materials used in some trains also contribute to poor coverage. In
particular, the train windows are sometimes coated in a metallic film or mesh. While this
has the desired effect of helping to regulate the temperature within the train, the coating
also weakens or blocks mobile signals from passing through. However, this trend looks
likely to be reversed to some degree. The next generation of rolling stock, currently
entering service on the GWR routes, and being deployed more widely over the next few
tears as replacement for the HST (High Speed Trains) and other older rolling stock, display
lower signal attenuation than some of their predecessors.
Mobile coverage obligations
5.34 Mobile coverage obligations are one way of driving improvements in mobile coverage
across the UK. These obligations are attached as conditions to spectrum licences and tie
operators to providing a certain level of service to a proportion of the landmass,
population or premises in the UK.
Voice coverage obligations
5.35 In February 2015 Ofcom varied the licences of the UK’s four mobile network operators to
improve mobile coverage across the country19. This followed an agreement reached
between the Government, and EE, O2, Three and Vodafone in December 2014 to increase
mobile coverage20. The February 2015 licence variations committed the four operators to
provide voice coverage across 90% of the UK’s landmass by the end of 2017.
Voice coverage obligation thresholds
The voice coverage obligations are based on thresholds agreed between industry and
government. Ofcom uses a different set of thresholds for the purposes of reporting
coverage, which we believe better reflect the consumer experience. As a result, the
mobile coverage figures we present outside of this sub-section will not be comparable.
The data shown relating to mobile coverage in this report are based on information
submitted by the mobile operators and relate to June 2017. This means that the levels of
coverage shown in this sub-section cannot be used to make conclusions about mobile
operators’ compliance with the voice coverage obligations.
19 https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2015/mno-variations 20 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-secures-landmark-deal-for-uk-mobile-phone-users
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
37
Figure 27: UK Outdoor geographic mobile voice coverage, by operator, using voice coverage
obligations signal strength thresholds, June 2016 to June 2017
EE O2 Three Vodafone
Year June ‘16 June ‘17 June ‘16 June ‘17 June ‘16 June ‘17 June ‘16 June ‘17
Voice coverage 85% 87% 89% 91% 78% 83% 93% 93%
Source: Ofcom analysis of operators’ data
Three also have a 2G roaming agreement with EE which could contribute towards meeting its obligation
5.36 As Figure 27 shows, the operators’ data suggest that all the main mobile operators in the
UK have seen increases in outdoor geographic mobile voice coverage, using the signal
strength thresholds defined in the mobile voice coverage obligations, of between one and
five percentage points between June 2016 and June 2017.
5.37 As well as voice coverage obligations, O2 is subject to a data coverage obligation, that they
will provide indoor coverage of mobile data services capable of 2Mbit/s or more, to 98% of
UK premises by the end of December this year. The other main operators have indicated
that they will match this commitment.
5.38 We cannot use the data in this report to make a meaningful assessment of O2’s progress
against its obligation to provide 98% coverage for indoor data coverage.
Data consumption is increasing
5.39 The volume of data consumed over the mobile networks has increased to 155.9 petabytes
(PB) per month (1 PB is 1 million GB), this is an increase of seven and a half times over a
five-year period. Figure 28 shows the data traffic volumes in June 2017. This is almost 6 PB
in Wales.
5.40 The differences in data traffic across the nations are roughly in line with the relative
population size of each nation. As can be seen in Figure 29, when data volume is adjusted
for the population of each nation, the results are much closer. This should only be used as
an indicative metric due to the fact that the figures are adjusted by total population and
not only mobile phone users.
Figure 28: Data traffic proportions by nation and population
Nation
Data traffic (GB,
millions) (%)
Population (millions)
(%)
Data use (GB) by
population
UK 155.9 65.6 2.4
England 135.8 (87%) 55.3 (84%) 2.5
Northern Ireland 3.1 (2%) 1.9 (3%) 1.6
Scotland 11.3 (7%) 5.4 (8%) 2.1
Wales 5.7 (4%) 3.1 (5%) 1.8
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
38
A1. Methodology A1.1 This report uses data gathered from the largest operators in each sector, as well as
information already held by Ofcom. Further information can be found in the Methodology
section of the UK Connected Nations report.
Fixed broadband networks
Coverage
A1.2 Our data on coverage of fixed broadband services is collected from the three main network
operators (BT, KCOM and Virgin Media) and eight smaller providers. In 2017 operators
were asked to provide data for each address where a service was provided. This was
provided with a reference date of 17 May 2017.
A1.3 This data was matched to a premise list derived from the Ordnance Survey (OS)
Addressbase® product21 (May 2017 version, Epoch 49). This was combined with additional
geographic classifications from the ONS National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL)22 (May
2017 version) and Urban and Rural categories derived from the Locale classification23 (Feb
2017 version, where settlements with populations over 2,000 are considered urban).
A1.4 Where we report on the availability of superfast broadband for SMEs, we have used an
address match process to link our premise base to a business classification. Data is based
on the Blue Sheep Business Universe24.
A1.5 Each operator provides information on the technology available together with predictions
of download and upload speeds. After the address matching process these characteristics
are assigned to each premise to enable further detailed analysis to be undertaken. We
apply thresholds in our analysis to investigate different patterns of provision. For coverage
we have used the maximum predicted download speed available at a premise to
determine the broadband category a premise is represented in.
Take-up, speeds and data use
A1.6 We gathered data from the main fixed broadband internet service providers (BT, KCOM,
Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Vodafone) on both their retail services and the services
they provide to other ISPs as a wholesale service. Seven smaller operators also provided
data on the customers they serve. This was provided with a reference date of 30th June
2017.
A1.7 Our analysis of broadband speeds is based on the information provided by these ISPs
regarding the sync speed of each active line. This gives a measure of the maximum possible
21 https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/business-and-government/products/addressbase-products.html 22 http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/geography/products/postcode-directories/-nspp-/index.html 23 http://www.bluewavegeographics.com/images/LOCALE_Classification.pdf 24 http://www.allmapdata.com/products/digital-map-data/business-poi/blue-sheep-poi/
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
39
connection speed achievable between the ISP’s access network and the consumer
premises. Line speed measurements are typically a few Mbit/s lower than sync speed
measurement, and they typically vary throughout the day depending on the level of
congestion in the ISP’s network.
Mobile coverage
A1.8 Our data on the coverage of mobile networks were collected from the four mobile network
operators, EE, O2, Three and Vodafone as 100m x 100m pixels referenced against the
Ordnance Survey Great Britain (OSGB) grid system, for their coverage as at 1st June 2017
for 2G, 3G and 4G networks. Premises coverage is calculated from the OS Addressbase®
product25 (May 2017 version, Epoch 49).
A1.9 In addition, geographic identifiers are added from the ONS NSPL26 (May 2017 version) and
Urban and Rural categories are added from the Locale classification27 (Feb 2017 version).
Roads data is taken from Ordnance Survey28 and Northern Ireland Land & Property Services
Open Data sources29.
A1.10 We apply technology-specific thresholds to each of 100m x 100m pixels to determine
whether a sufficiently strong signal is available to successfully make a phone call or send or
receive data. These pixels are aggregated to provide an estimate of either the landmass or
the number of premises that are covered by the corresponding mobile technology.
A1.11 We have undertaken measurement work to identify the minimum coverage level (the
technology-specific threshold) required to deliver a good quality of experience to
consumers on a network. This was completed in 2017 for 4G network coverage using a
similar approach to that undertaken previously for 2G and 3G networks.
A1.12 For 2G, 3G and, now, 4G networks, we define coverage based on the minimum signal
strength required to deliver a 98% probability of making a phone call successfully. In the
case of 4G specifically, our definition also delivers a 90% chance of getting a download
speed of at least 2Mbit/s.
A1.13 We use the following specific signal strength thresholds when estimating coverage:
Service Metric Outdoor Indoor and in-car
Voice: 2G
3G
4G
RxLev
RSCP CPiCH
RSRP
-81dBm
-100dBm
-105dBm
-71dBm
-90dBm
-95dBm
Data: 3G
4G
RSCP CPiCH
RSRP
-100dBm
-115dBm
-90dBm
-105dBm
25 https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/business-and-government/products/addressbase-products.html 26 http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/geography/products/postcode-directories/-nspp-/index.html 27 http://www.bluewavegeographics.com/images/LOCALE_Classification.pdf 28 https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/business-and-government/products/os-open-roads.html 29 https://www.opendatani.gov.uk/dataset/osni-open-data-50k-transport-line1
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
40
A2. Coverage Comparison Table Table 1: Coverage by all four operators of data, voice and 4G services across the UK and Nations,
June 2017
Indoor premises Outdoor geographic Outdoor premises
4G Voice Data 4G Voice Data 4G Voice Data
UK Total 58% (↑18pp)
90% (↑5pp)
85% (↑6pp)
43% (↑22pp)
70% (↑7pp)
63% (↑10pp)
88% (↑16pp)
98% (↑2pp)
96% (↑3pp)
Urban 64% (↑19pp)
95% (↑3pp)
92% (↑4pp)
87% (↑20pp)
98% (↑1pp)
96% (↑3pp)
94% (↑14pp)
100% (0pp)
99% (↑2pp)
Rural 18% (↑12pp)
57% (↑15pp)
46% (↑15pp)
38% (↑22pp)
66% (↑7pp)
59% (↑12pp)
56% (↑30pp)
88% (↑9pp)
80% (↑13pp)
England Total 60% (↑18pp)
91% (↑5pp)
87% (↑5pp)
60% (↑28pp)
88% (↑7pp)
82% (↑10pp)
90% (↑15pp)
99% (↑1pp)
97% (↑2pp)
Urban 66% (↑19pp)
96% (↑3pp)
93% (↑4pp)
90% (↑19pp)
99% (↑1pp)
97% (↑3pp)
95% (↑12pp)
100% (0pp)
99% (↑1pp)
Rural 19% (↑13pp)
59% (↑16pp)
48% (↑14pp)
54% (↑30pp)
85% (↑8pp)
79% (↑12pp)
60% (↑31pp)
91% (↑9pp)
83% (↑11pp)
Northern
Ireland
Total 44% (↑10pp)
78% (↑5pp)
75% (↑5pp)
60% (↑30pp)
83% (↑7pp)
76% (↑6pp)
83% (↑19pp)
95% (↑3pp)
93% (↑3pp)
Urban 55% (↑9pp)
88% (↑1pp)
87% (↑3pp)
85% (↑19pp)
95% (↑1pp)
93% (↑1pp)
93% (↑14pp)
99% (0pp)
98% (↑1pp)
Rural 19% (↑12pp)
54% (↑12pp)
46% (↑10pp)
57% (↑31pp)
82% (↑8pp)
75% (↑6pp)
61% (↑30pp)
87% (↑8pp)
80% (↑7pp)
Scotland Total 53% (↑20pp)
87% (↑6pp)
82% (↑8pp)
17% (↑11pp)
40% (↑5pp)
31% (↑11pp)
83% (↑21pp)
96% (↑2pp)
93% (↑6pp)
Urban 61% (↑22pp)
94% (↑4pp)
91% (↑6pp)
86% (↑21pp)
97% (↑1pp)
96% (↑6pp)
91% (↑20pp)
100% (0pp)
98% (↑4pp)
Rural 18% (↑13pp)
52% (↑13pp)
45% (↑16pp)
15% (↑11pp)
39% (↑5pp)
30% (↑11pp)
45% (↑27pp)
78% (↑7pp)
69% (↑18pp)
Wales Total 34% (↑21pp)
80% (↑10pp)
73% (↑16pp)
25% (↑18pp)
62% (↑12pp)
52% (↑25pp)
67% (↑33pp)
93% (↑4pp)
88% (↑12pp)
Urban 41% (↑25pp)
90% (↑9pp)
83% (↑14pp)
62% (↑35pp)
93% (↑4pp)
88% (↑11pp)
77% (↑35pp)
99% (↑2pp)
95% (↑7pp)
Rural 10% (↑9pp)
45% (↑15pp)
37% (↑22pp)
19% (↑16pp)
58% (↑13pp)
47% (↑26pp)
33% (↑26pp)
76% (↑12pp)
65% (↑28pp)
Source: Ofcom analysis of operator data
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
41
A3. Glossary 2G Second generation of mobile telephony systems. Uses digital transmission to support voice, low-
speed data communications, and short messaging services.
3G Third generation of mobile systems. Provides high-speed data transmission and supports multi-
media applications such as video, audio and internet access, alongside conventional voice services.
4G Fourth generation of mobile systems. It is designed to provide faster data download and upload
speeds on mobile networks.
Access network An electronic communications network which connects end-users to a service
provider; running from the end-user's premises to a local access node and supporting the provision
of access-based services. It is sometimes referred to as the 'local loop' or the 'last mile'.
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. A digital technology that allows the use of a standard
telephone line to provide high-speed data communications. Allows higher speeds in one direction
('downstream' towards the customer) than the other.
Backhaul The part of the communications network which connects the local exchange to the ISP's
core network
Base station This is the active equipment installed at a mobile transmitter site. The equipment
installed determines the types of access technology that are used at that site.
Broadband A data service or connection generally defined as being 'always on' and providing a
bandwidth greater than narrowband connections.
Broadband USO Broadband Universal Service Obligation. A proposed requirement which will give
every household and business the right to request a broadband connection at a minimum speed, up
to a reasonable cost threshold.
Decent Broadband Broadband services that provide download speeds of at least 10 Mbit/s and
upload speeds of at least 1 Mbit/s.
DSL Digital Subscriber Line. A family of technologies generally referred to as DSL, or xDSL, capable of
transforming ordinary phone lines (also known as 'twisted copper pairs') into high-speed digital
lines, capable of supporting advanced services such as fast internet access and video on demand.
ADSL and VDSL (very high speed digital subscriber line) are variants of xDSL).
FTTC Fibre to the Cabinet. Access network consisting of optical fibre extending from the access node
to the street cabinet. The street cabinet is usually located only a few hundred metres from the
subscribers' premises. The remaining segment of the access network from the cabinet to the
customer is usually a copper pair.
FTTP Fibre to the Premises. A form of fibre optic communication delivery in which the optical signal
reaches the end user's home or office. Also known as full fibre broadband.
Connected Nations Report 2017: Wales
42
LTE Long Term Evolution. This is 4G technology which is designed to provide faster upload and
download speeds for data on mobile networks.
MNO Mobile Network Operator, a provider who owns a cellular mobile network.
Not-spot An area which is not covered by fixed or mobile networks.
SIM Subscriber Identity Module. A SIM is a small flat electronic chip that identifies a mobile
customer and the mobile operator. A mobile phone must have a SIM before it can be used.
Smartphone A mobile phone that offers more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a
contemporary basic 'feature' phone.
Superfast broadband Broadband services that deliver download speeds of at least 30 Mbit/s.
Ultrafast broadband Broadband services that deliver download speeds of greater than 300 Mbit/s.
VDSL Very High Speed DSL. A high speed variant of DSL technology, which provides a high headline
speed through reducing the length of the access line copper by connecting to fibre at the cabinet.
Wi-Fi A short range wireless access technology that allows devices to connect to a network through
using any of the 802.11 standards. These technologies allow an over-the-air connection between a
wireless client and a base station or between two wireless clients.
xDSL The generic term for the Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) family of technologies used to provide
broadband services over a copper telephone line.